


Dayton, Texas

by frankiesin



Series: Ghost Towns [2]
Category: Bandom, Panic! at the Disco
Genre: Alternate Universe - Religious, Demonic Possession, Gen, Linda Ignarro Doesn't Understand What Pain Is, Minor Character Death, Southern Gothic, Witch Jon Walker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-17
Updated: 2017-02-17
Packaged: 2018-09-25 05:23:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9804380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frankiesin/pseuds/frankiesin
Summary: When Linda's friend gets possessed by a demon, Linda does the logical thing and drives her to the nearest Catholic church. There, she meets a homeless guy named Jon, who turns out to be a lot more than he seems.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, hello, it is yet another back story in the Poly Panic Unholyverse AU. After this, there are two more (one with Spencer and then Jon's story as to how he got into all of this) and then I'll start working on the main part of this fic.

Linda’s friend Mary Anne was turning eighteen, and so the girls decided to throw her a party in celebration. They’d rented a dance hall in Eastern Houston, about a thirty-five minute drive away, and they’d invite everyone they could think of. Linda’s friend Catherine also invited some boys, because she said that it would liven up the party.

 

Linda couldn’t imagine how boys would make a party better, because boys tended to see girls only for sex toys, and Linda knew that Mary Anne and her parents all thoroughly believed in abstinence until marriage. Linda believed that people should have the right to choose how much sex they did or did not have. She didn’t want any, currently, because she was a senior in high school and wanted to get away from her family for four years to get a degree. She couldn’t risk getting pregnant. 

 

The set-up was going well. Bethany, who was two years older than Linda and studying at a local college, had gotten some guys to bring beer. Linda was excited, because she’d never had alcohol before--her father was a preacher and both her parents watched their children closely--and she thought that Mary Anne would enjoy that. It might loosen her up a bit, because she was very high strung. 

 

“She’s here!” Catherine called out, right before Mary Anne entered the dance hall and everyone sprayed confetti at her. She laughed and swatted it away. Catherine pulled her into a hug. “Happy birthday, sweetheart! The girls and I’ve made you up a real sweet party! We even brought some boys!”

 

“Boys?” Mary Anne’s eyes lit up.  _ Ah,  _ Linda thought,  _ she’s just boy crazy _ . Linda had never been boy crazy. She thought some guys were cute, of course, but she just wasn’t interested in throwing her life away because of a man. She was her own person before she was anyone else’s. 

 

“Let’s get this thing going!” One of the guys called out, holding a bottle of beer in the air. The guys whooped and the girls squealed in response, and the music came on. 

 

It was fun. Linda danced with her friends, and also some of the guys, and  one of them gave her his number when he found out she was thinking about going to college in Dallas instead of staying near Houston. She liked him, even though she couldn’t remember his name. 

 

“Alright, y’all, this dancing has been fun and all, but I think it’s time we get down and dirty!” Bethany yelled over the music. It got turned down, not all the way off, and everyone looked up to where she was standing on a table. She grinned down at the crowd. “Who’s up for some truth or dare? And if you don’t want to take the dare or the truth you’re given, you’ve got to take a shot!”

 

Everyone cheered. The only alcohol they had was beer and whiskey, and so they used the whiskey for shots. 

 

Linda loved truth or dare, but only because no one could ever get her to drink (before, they’d played with apple juice). She didn’t like backing down from things, and she didn’t keep many secrets. Mary Anne, on the other hand, was shy and easily embarrassed. Linda had a feeling that Bethany had suggested the game as an excuse to get Mary Anne really drunk so that she’d catch up with everyone else. 

 

Linda settled in on the floor beside Mary Anne. “Happy birthday, by the way. I don’t think I’ve had the chance to say it yet.”

 

“Thanks,” Mary Anne smiled at her. “I’m nervous about this, though. My parents said that drinking is a sign of the devil, and I know that they’re not hear, but I’m worried that they’ll find out.”

 

“Don’t worry,” Linda said. “If you drink too much, you can always spend the night at someone else’s house. I could even lie to my parents and say that someone at the party slipped something in your drink and you started feeling weird, so I brought you home for the night to take care of you.”

 

Mary Anne’s eyes widened. “You’d lie to your parents? Linda, that’s breaking one of the Ten Commandments! You can’t!”

 

“You’re my friend,” Linda said simply. “I think God would understand.”

 

“I sure hope He would,” Mary Anne said. “I don’t want you to go to Hell. You’re too nice for that.”

 

“Let’s get this started,” Bethany grinned. Her eyes turned to Linda first. Linda hadn’t expected that. She thought that Bethany would go straight for Mary Anne, because Bethany wasn’t very patient. “Linda Ignarro. Truth or dare?”

 

“Dare.”

 

“I dare you to take your shirt off,” Bethany grinned, wiggling her eyebrows dangerously. “And then do a little dance for all the boys who’ve come out here tonight.”

 

Linda rolled her eyes. “Sure, whatever.”

 

She pulled her blouse over her head and shook her hair out before standing up and doing a little dance. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do, but there were people cheering for her, so it must have been good enough. She sat back down and put her shirt back on. “Okay, who next?”

 

And so the game went. A few more people went before someone finally addressed Mary Anne and dared her to make out with the cutest guy in the room. It was her choice who she got to make out with, of course, because it was her opinion as to who was the cutest. 

 

Mary Anne flushed a deep red and shook her head. “I’m not doing it, no.”

 

“You have to drink, then,” Bethany said. She poured some whiskey into a cup and handed it across the circle to Mary Anne. Mary Anne’s hands were shaking, but she took the cup anyway. She took a deep breath, and drank it all. Bethany grinned. “Nice job Mary Anne!”

 

That was when everything went to shit. Mary Anne’s eyes rolled back into her head and she flopped forward, her head hitting the floor with a solid thunk. Everyone was staring at her, too surprised to act. Everyone, that was, except Linda, whose mind had already gone into problem-solving mode. She turned Mary Anne onto her side and put two fingers on the girl’s neck, checking for a pulse. There was one, but it was faint. 

 

Linda looked up. “Where’s a phone? We need to call an ambulance.”

 

“It was just one shot!” Bethany exclaimed. She looked terrified. 

 

“I know, but sometimes people react weird to alcohol,” Linda said. She was trying to keep her voice calm. “Call 9-1-1, now.”

 

Mary Anne’s hand suddenly flew up and back-handed Linda so hard that she fell back a few feet and was no longer in the circle. Linda sat up, rubbing her jaw. That  _ hurt _ . She had no idea Mary Anne was that strong, especially when she’d just--

Mary Anne was sitting on top of Bethany, pressing her fingers into Bethany’s eyeballs. Everyone was screaming. 

 

Linda had a horrible feeling that she wasn’t dealing with Mary Anne anymore. Something had happened. Something really bad had happened. 

 

With a snap, Mary Anne broke Bethany’s neck. When she spoke, her voice didn’t sound like her own. It sounded smoky, and sent chills down Linda’s spine. “You, serpent, have broken the pure of heart. You have created sin, and shall forever suffer in hell.”

 

“What the fuck is going on?!” One of the guys yelled. He looked like he was trying not to cry. “Is this some kind of prank?!”

 

Mary Anne’s body whirled on him. Linda stared, wide eyed and completely terrified as Mary Anne raised her hand and pantomimed squeezing the guy’s throat. The guy started making choking noises, and reached his hands up towards his throat, scratching at an invisible hand around his throat. His face turned red, and then purple, and then he stopped struggling and his body was thrown against the wall. 

 

Mary Anne stood up from where she’d been sitting on Bethany’s body. She rubbed her bloodstained fingers on her skirt. “You are all sinners, and you will all be punished in the name of the Lord.”

 

The dance hall, of course, erupted into chaos. Linda held back, trying to calm herself down and not think about the bodies, and how one of them was one of her friends and the other was just a guy who had wanted to have some fun. Neither of them asked for this. 

 

Linda gritted her teeth. If no one stopped whatever was in Mary Anne, she was going to end up killing everyone. Linda looked around, to see if there was anything she could use to her advantage. There was an empty beer bottle to her left, but if whatever was in Mary Anne was supernatural, which Linda suspected it was, it wouldn’t be affected by a simple bottle and would Linda would just end up hurting Mary Anne. 

 

Then she noticed that Mary Anne’s cross necklace was on the floor, and it looked like it had been ripped off. 

 

_ Of course _ , Linda thought, taking her own off.  _ Evil things hate God _ . She didn’t have a plan. She just snuck up behind Mary Anne while Mary Anne was digging her nails into the neck of one of Linda’s other friends, blood spurting everywhere, and pulled her cross around Mary Anne’s neck, pulling it tight. Mary Anne screamed a blood-curdling scream and pulled her hands from Linda’s friend’s neck. 

 

“Fiend!” She yelled, pulling at Linda’s hair and scratching deep into her cheeks. “You dare to attack me? I belong to Hell itself, a demon of Greed! You cannot defeat me, I feed off of your kind!”

 

“Good thing I’m skinny,” Linda said, and kicked Mary Anne’s legs out from under her. She turned to the nearest person while still holding her knee to the middle of Mary Anne’s back. Linda’s face stung, and her head was throbbing. She could only imagine what she looked like. “Someone get me some tape, and not the Scotch type!”

 

No one moved. Mary Anne thrashed under her, and Linda was starting to smell something boiling. It was probably Mary Anne’s skin, from the cross. 

 

Linda yelled, “now!” and someone immediately came up to her with a roll of duct tape. Linda flipped her friend around and then wrapped Mary Anne’s wrists together. She put a strip of tape over her eyes for good measure, and then bound her ankles. Linda then tied her cross necklace around Mary Anne’s throat and glared down at her. “Don’t mess with my friends, honey. My pa didn’t put me and my sisters through years of self-defense training for nothing. I will take you out.”

 

Mary Anne tried to say something else, but her voice was muffled by the tape.

 

Linda wiped some blood from her face. “Anyone want to help me find someone who can do an exorcism? Surely there’s a Catholic church near by? I’ve got a car, I just don’t want to be alone with her, since she’s possessed and all.”

 

“Sorry, darling, but you’re on your own,” one of the few people left standing said.

 

Linda frowned, but pulled Mary Anne’s body up anyway. Fine. She needed an excuse to prove herself anyway. Mary Anne struggled against Linda, but she couldn’t really do anything with the cross digging into her skin and all of her limbs bound. Linda just hoped the duct tape would hold. “At least tell me how to get to the nearest Catholic church, alright? Someone has to help her.”

 

The same guy gave Linda the directions, and then Linda started dragging Mary Anne out of the room. Mary Anne narrowed her eyes and suddenly the door slammed shut. Linda sighed, dropped Mary Anne, and grabbed the bat that someone had brought for the pinata earlier. It was covered in blood and what looked like bone fragments. Linda bit back the bile that was rising in her throat and just started smashing the windows beside the door. 

 

She turned around to face Mary Anne. “Bet you didn’t think about that, huh?”

 

“Linda, you’re going to get in so much trouble…” Catherine started to say, but Linda wasn’t paying attention. Her friend had some kind of demon possessing her, and Linda had car keys and directions to a Catholic church that probably did exorcisms. She was fine. She’d figure this out as she went. 

 

She left the bat there, because she didn’t want to give Mary Anne any weapons. She lifted Mary Anne through the broken window, gritting her teeth at the effort, and then climbed out after her. There was glass in her palms, but she didn’t stop.

 

Linda strapped Mary Anne down in the passenger seat and started the car. They were halfway to the church when Mary Anne unbuckled Linda’s seatbelt with her mind and pushed the gas pedal down with her mind as well. 

 

Linda gritted her teeth and gripped the steering wheel tighter, even though that made the glass in her hands go deeper. “Jokes on you, demon, Catherine’s uncle is a racecar driver and that creepy man had some kind of thing for me so he taught me how to drive because he thought it’d get me to like him.”

 

Mary Anne laughed through the duct tape. The demon’s voice echoed through the radio:  _ he should have just taken you, then. Men who yearn for the flesh of children are the worst… you and I could have gotten such sweet, sweet revenge on him if he’d been the one to pop your precious cherry _ .

 

Linda drove faster, skidding to a halt in front of the church. She pushed Mary Anne out of the car and then followed her through the passenger door, slamming and locking it shut. Linda grabbed Mary Anne’s arms, not caring how tightly she was holding the girl, because Mary Anne was possessed and she’d forgive Linda later, once Linda got the demon out of her. The two of them got halfway up the stairs before Mary Anne flung Linda off of her. 

 

Linda’s back hit the concrete steps, and she could feel blood dripping down as she tried to get back up. Mary Anne hopped up to Linda and glared down at her, slamming her head back down on the concrete. 

 

Linda started to scream. She could see lights on from within the chapel, and she knew that someone was in there. Someone would hear her, and come to help. She screamed, louder and louder, until her throat was raw and she was starting to see spots in front of her eyes and taste blood in her mouth. 

 

“What is going on?” She heard a voice say from above. 

 

Linda turned over on her side, trying to see who was there. “Help… possessed… my friend’s possessed… please…”

 

She passed out for a moment after that, but woke up on a cot. She was surrounded by a handful of women and six people who all looked homeless and ragged. Linda sat up, even as one of the women told her not to. “Where’s my friend? Are they helping her?”

 

“They took her into the sanctuary,” a guy said. He had shaggy, curly dark brown hair and the beginnings of a beard. His hands were scarred up and there was a patch of his face that didn’t have any beard on it because of another scar. He was staring right at Linda. “You said she was possessed?”

 

“Jon, you should go to bed,” one of the ladies said, gently putting her hand on Jon’s arm. 

 

“Yes, she’s possessed,” Linda said, and Jon’s (and the women’s) attention was back on her. Linda swallowed, nervous again. “Are… is someone taking care of her?”

 

“I can help,” Jon said. He stood up, reaching out for Linda, and they both ignored the woman who told Linda to sit down and Jon to go back to his cot for the night. Linda didn’t know if Jon was a crazy homeless person or not, but after he grabbed his backpack, which was stuffed and looked rather heavy, he said he knew how to help Linda’s friend. That was all Linda needed.

 

The two of them moved through the church. As they got to the doors leading to the sanctuary, Linda could hear Mary Anne screaming and a man chanting in Latin. 

Jon turned to Linda at the door. “One question: how did you even get your friend here, and how did she get possessed? Were you two messing around with anything, or--”

 

“That’s more than one question,” Linda said, and then, before Jon could say anything in response, she added, “I wrapped my cross around her neck and duct taped her hands and feet and drove her here. And she got possessed at a party. She’d just taken a shot of whiskey--”

 

“Her parents religious?” Jon asked. “And not like, normal Christians who go to church and shit. I mean, really fucking religious, probably think that leather and swearing will send someone straight to hell.”

 

“You could say that,” Linda said. “They didn’t want their children to partake in any illicit substances, if that’s what you’re going for.”

 

Jon dropped his backpack and started rifling through it. “Okay, I think I know what we’re dealing with. I’m going to need you to hold onto these,” he handed Linda a rosary and a long white candle that had been used before and had melted at a severe angle, “and do exactly as I say, okay? It might get messy in there.”

 

“I can handle myself,” Linda said. 

 

“Sure you can,” Jon said. “But this isn’t some asshole pressuring you into prom sex. This is some poor girl who’s been cursed.”

 

“Cursed?!” Linda exclaimed, because she couldn’t imagine Mary Anne’s parents being involved with witchcraft. Jon didn’t answer. He just grabbed a few more things from his backpack and then kicked open the door. He closed it as soon as he and Linda were both inside. There were three priests, all dressed in their full robes, attending to Mary Anne, who was thrashing around even though she was strapped to a table. 

 

They were reciting prayers over her. One of them had a rosary. It was shiny and gold, unlike Jon’s, which looked a little charred in Linda’s hands. 

 

Jon turned to her. “Ready?”

 

Linda nodded. She had no idea what was coming. 

 

Jon strode up to the priests and Mary Anne; Linda followed closely. He reached out and placed his hand on one of the priests’ elbows. “Sir, the three of you should leave. I can take it from here. I’m a professional.”

 

“Jon, you shouldn’t be in here,” the man said. “Neither should you, young lady.”

 

“I drove her here,” Linda said. “I’m fine.”

 

Jon and the three priests didn’t look convinced. One of them opened his mouth to try and argue with Linda, and tell her to leave, but Mary Anne started screaming again and one of the statues of Mary fell over. Her hands and her nose broke off, and when she rolled to the side, Linda saw a large crack across her face, cutting through her right eye. As she continued to watch the Mary statue, blood started pouring out of the crack. 

 

Linda nudged Jon. “I don’t think statues are supposed to bleed.”

 

“Shit,” Jon said. He turned back to the priests. “I’m serious. This isn’t a normal possession, okay? It’s a curse, and I need to do some sketchy stuff to save this girl, and I don’t want any extra bodies hanging around.”

 

“We are all priests,” the first priest said. “We’ve been trained to deal with this sort of thing, Jon.”

 

“Listen, I’m not saying you’re incompetent,” Jon said as Mary Anne screamed again and the Mary statue on the floor exploded in a flood of blood, guts, and concrete. Linda gagged behind her hand. “But here’s the thing about exorcisms: demons don’t like going back to hell, okay? They get a taste of destruction, and they don’t ever want to stop. So if I force this fucker out, there’s a chance it’ll hop from that girl’s body into one of yours, and none of you are strapped down. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt, so please, for your own safety, get out now.”

 

There was a moment where Jon was just staring down the three priests and it didn’t look like they were going to listen to him. Then Mary Anne lit all of the candles in the room on fire, including the one in Linda’s hand, and everyone jumped back. Linda let out a small scream, because suddenly there was fire right in front of her face. 

 

“We’ll leave,” the second priest said, shakily. The three of them got out of there pretty quickly. 

 

Jon turned to Linda, who was still holding the blazing candle at arm’s length. He flipped open a book. “You might want to leave, too. You’re already hurt--”

 

“I’m fine,” Linda said. She wasn’t. Everything was throbbing, it felt like, and her vision was still spotty, but she wasn’t going to abandon her friend. “Tell me what I need to do.”

 

Jon nodded, and started giving out instructions, pausing to read from the book in what sounded like Latin. Linda did as she was told, waving the rosary through the fire before dripping the candle wax over Mary Anne’s chest, doing her best to drip it in a crucifix pattern. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and Mary Anne was screaming and thrashing around under her, and in the background, Jon was still talking, saying things that Linda didn’t understand. 

 

“Put the rosary on,” he said, suddenly.

 

“What?”

 

“Put it on, now,” Jon said. He reached out and threw it around Linda’s neck, the wood warm against her skin. He wrapped his hand around the cross at the end of the rosary, and started to speak in English. Linda couldn’t hear him. Mary Anne’s screaming had gotten into her head, and her head was pounding, and the world was starting to go white again. 

 

* * *

 

There was a hand on her head. Linda blinked her eyes open, and saw that she was laying out on a pew in the church’s sanctuary. Jon was kneeling beside her, his hand on her forehead. 

 

Linda sat up, ignoring how her vision swam. “Where’s Mary Anne?”

 

“She’s on the pew in front of you,” Jon said. “She’s alive, but I think she’s in shock. I had one of the priest guys call the hospital, so someone should be here soon, but that means I have to get out of here.”

 

“Why?”

 

“I don’t do hospitals,” Jon said. He started to stand up and walk away, but Linda reached out and grabbed him, ignoring the sharp pain in her hands as she flexed them. The glass was still in there. Jon turned around. “What?”

 

“You can’t just leave,” Linda said. “Look, I came here tonight because something was wrong with my friend, and then some random homeless guy comes up to me and tells me he can save her, and then he actually does. You’d better explain yourself, because if you don’t, I’m going to go around asking questions, and I won’t stop until I get answers or I find you.”

 

Jon sighed. He motioned for Linda to move over so that he could sit down next to her, and so she did. He placed his hands on his legs, palms up so that Linda could see all the burn scars and injuries lining his palms. “My parents and three of my friends all died in a supernatural accident when I was fourteen. About a year later, I found this group of guys who hunted monsters and things, and I joined them. I’ve been travelling around the country and helping people with supernatural problems ever since.”

 

“Did you know about Mary Anne, then?” Linda asked.

 

Jon shook his head. “No, I was here to get re-baptised. It helps with the exorcisms, having a freshly baptised spirit. But, um, your friend wasn’t possessed in the traditional way, where someone summons a demon and it goes to shit. She was cursed, probably a while ago, and probably by her parents, if they’re as religious as you say they are.”

 

“Mary Anne’s parents wouldn’t curse her!” Linda exclaimed.

 

“Not on purpose,” Jon said. He ran a hand through his hair, his fingers catching on a curl. “The more a person fears the thing they worship, the more desperate they are. And the more desperate they are, the less they think about consequences. Whoever cursed Mary Anne probably didn’t think of it as a curse, but more of a punishment for her committing a sin. Which, in Mary Anne’s case, turned out to be drinking alcohol at a party. Her drinking activated the minor demon that was attached to the curse, and, boom, you have your possession happening.”

 

Linda peered over the pew. Mary Anne was laying on her back, tears in her eyes and staring blankly at the ceiling. She was still breathing, though, but she was definitely in shock. Linda wondered if Mary Anne could hear any of the things that Linda and Jon were saying about her. Linda hoped she couldn’t hear anything. 

 

“It’s not common,” Jon said. “Most parents aren’t so obsessive that they’d curse their own kids, on purpose or not.”

 

“Mary Anne has a younger brother and sister,” Linda said. “Would they be cursed too?”

 

“Shit, probably,” Jon said. He let out a long sigh. “I’m going to have to help you de-curse them too, aren’t I?”

 

“I can figure out a lot of things on my own,” Linda said, staring him down, “but I don’t know squat about curses. So, yes, I guess I am going to need your help with that. You’re going to be sticking around here for a little bit longer.”

 

“Are there any cheap places to stay near where your friend lives?” Jon said. “Because I’m not exactly rich, and I left most of my gear back in Oklahoma with one of the other guys.”

 

“There’s a few places off of the highway leading into town,” Linda said. “I can drive you to one of them and we can figure things out from there.”

 

“It’s late, and you still need to see a doctor for your head and and your hands,” Jon said. “Also, I have a car of my own. I’m not really homeless, I just haven’t had the time to shave recently, so I look like I am.”

 

“I’m fine,” Linda said.

 

“You keep saying that, but since I’ve met you, you’ve passed out twice already,” Jon said. “You’re not fine. The ambulance will be here soon, and I can leave a message at the front desk saying that I’m waiting for someone named… what’s your name?”

 

Linda sighed. “Linda Ignarro. And if I’m going to the hospital, you’re coming with me.”

 

“I told you, I don’t do hospitals,” Jon said. 

 

“And I don’t trust you not to disappear in the middle of the night and leave two kids at the mercy of whatever demon possessed my friend!”

 

“Good point,” Jon said, and Linda knew that she’d won. “I’ll come with you.”

 

The two of them sat there in silence while they waited for the ambulance to arrive and take everyone to the hospital. Linda still had the rosary around her neck. She took it off and ran it through her fingers, looking a the pattern more closely now that there wasn’t any danger. It was made of wood, and old, and there were multiple beads that had been charred.

 

Jon was packing his bag back up, reorganising all of the things he had in there. Linda didn’t recognise some of them. There were a few books, stuffed with papers and sticky notes, a wooden stake, and a few more tall candles. 

 

Mary Anne was still in shock when the paramedics came in with the priest, who was explaining things as best he could. It was pretty hard to make sense of the sanctuary, though. The virgin Mary statue had been brutally murdered and her insides--flesh and concrete both--were scattered around the pulpit, and there were burn marks on the walls from where Mary Anne had angrily lit the candles. 

 

“The people who need your help are over here,” the priest said. 

 

The paramedic nodded, and motioned for the other guys to bring out the stretchers. Linda and Mary Anne were both put on stretchers, and Jon somehow managed to convince the paramedics that he was fine and could walk to the ambulance. Linda was laid out on the stretcher, watching Jon as she was wheeled off to the ambulance with Mary Anne, who was still staring at nothing. Jon walked with her, ahead of the stretcher, with his backpack slung over one shoulder. 

 

They didn’t speak in the ambulance. The EMTs were speaking over the three of them, talking about vitals and shock and blood loss. Jon seemed to know what they were talking about. Linda was a little lost. 

 

When they got to the hospital, Linda was separated from the others and taken to a room where things beeped and there was a woman covered in blood and bruises crying quietly on the cot beside Linda. Linda reached out to her, even though her arm was shaking from the effort. “Hey, hey, you’re going to be okay. I promise.”

 

The woman just started crying harder. She was still quiet about it. 

 

“Ma’am, we need you to calm down,” one of the nurses said to the woman. Another one pulled the curtain shut to separate Linda from the crying lady. That nurse, who was short and had soft, round cheeks, came over to Linda and said, “you’ve had quite the evening, haven’t you? I’m going to check you over and see if you’ll need any stitches.”

 

“Where’s Mary Anne?” Linda asked. She was fine. Her head hurt a little and her hands were throbbing from the glass, but none of that was permanent. “Is she going to be okay? Is she going to live?”

 

“Your friend is going to be fine,” the nurse said. “Right now we need to focus on you.”

 

* * *

 

They numbed Linda up and knocked her out to put in the stitches. She needed them both on her hands and the back of her head. Linda slept a lot, off and on for the next twenty-four hours. At some point, her parents came by. They were worried and crying but Linda was too out of it to calm them down. 

 

She woke up to darkness, and rubbed at her face, wincing when she pulled at the fresh stitches on her palms. The scarring would probably be ugly. 

 

“How’re you feeling?” A voice said from her right. 

 

Linda bolted upright, as much as she could when she was still pretty drugged up and sore. It was just Jon. 

 

He waved. “Hey. Sorry for startling you. You have a minor concussion, apparently, but everything else will heal easily.”

 

“You’re still here,” Linda said.

 

“Well, yeah,” Jon said. “I knew I couldn’t leave when those kids were still cursed, and I knew I couldn’t leave you alone to deal with it, because you’d probably get yourself killed.”

 

“You underestimate me,” Linda said. 

 

“I’m just concerned,” Jon said. “Really.”

 

Linda shifted around in her bed. She narrowed her eyes to get a better look at Jon in the dark. He’d shaved. It also looked like he’d gotten a haircut, and Linda wondered if the nurses had done it or if Jon had done it himself. “What do we need to do to stop the curse? It is a curse, right?”

 

“It is, unfortunately,” Jon said. He pulled his chair closer and brought out a little flashlight and a notepad. “I looked into some stuff while you were getting your injuries dealt with, and it looks pretty run of the mill. It wasn’t inflicted by a priest, unless your dad’s involved in some occult things that he hasn’t mentioned yet, and it’s tied to the person’s soul.”

 

“That sounds bad.”

 

“It could be worse,” Jon said. He looked up from his notes, his face mostly in shadows. “Mary Anne’s parents could have branded their kids with the curse and put it directly into their flesh.”

 

Linda made a face. “I have a feeling that those are dealt with by cutting off the limb.”

 

“Or, if it’s on something that can’t be cut off, you have to cut away the flesh,” Jon said. “All the way to the muscle. It’s painful, it’s not pretty, and it would definitely get us arrested for attempted murder.”

 

“Speaking of getting arrested, how do you plan on getting the kids somewhere where we can remove the curse?” Linda asked. 

 

“I was hoping you’d be able to help with that,” Jon said. “You’re the preacher’s daughter, and you just saved their oldest daughter from dying. Surely the parents are going to trust you to take care of their children and bring them to the light of God.”

 

Linda narrowed her eyes. “What are you saying?”

 

“I’m saying I need you to start a Bible study, but only for Mary Anne’s younger siblings,” Jon said. “Get them in a small room, one without windows if you can, and then once everyone’s inside, lock the door. I’ll make sure I’m already in the room, and then I can perform the counter spell to get rid of the curse.”

 

“That could go wrong really easily,” Linda said. 

 

Jon raised an eyebrow. “Do you have a better idea?”

 

“...no,” Linda said. She sighed. “Fine, we’ll lie to a bunch of kids and lock them in a church room with a stranger.”

 

* * *

 

It worked better than it should have. The kids believed that they’d been cursed after what had happened to Mary Anne, and they were willing to participate in the counter curse once Jon said it was sanctioned by the church. Afterwards, Linda gave them an impromptu lesson on forgiveness, because she and Jon both didn’t want the kids to go home and hurt their parents. That would only make the situation worse.

 

Linda waved goodbye to the kids as their dad drove away with them, and then she turned around to Jon. “It’s not sanctioned by the church, is it?”

 

“No,” Jon said. “But sometimes you have to lie to people for their own good.”

 

Linda frowned. “I’m not a fan of lying.”

 

“Then you probably wouldn’t enjoy this job,” Jon said. “There’s a lot of lying involved, especially when you’re dealing with people who don’t want to believe in the supernatural.”

 

Linda crossed her arms over her chest. She supposed that Jon had a point, but that didn’t mean she liked it. She looked down at Jon and realised that there was no reason for him to stay here any more. He’d gotten rid of the curse on Mary Anne on her siblings, and he’d gotten rebaptised. “Are you ever going to come back here, or is this just the end?”

 

“I don’t know,” Jon said. He opened his jacket and reached into a pocket that had been sewn into the lining. He pulled out a card and handed it to her. On it, it read:

 

_ Jon Walker _

_ Professional spirit hunter, practicing witch _

_ Specialises in werewolves and possession _

_ Call 539.021.9017 for help _

 

Linda flipped it over, but there wasn’t anything on the back. “Is this… yours then?”

 

“Yeah,” Jon said. “If you ever have something like this that you can’t handle, call this. It might not be me, if I’m really far away, but someone will come. They’re good guys, Ignarro. You can trust them.”

 

“I never said I wouldn’t,” Linda said. She slipped the card into her bra, since the pants she was wearing didn’t have any pockets and she didn’t want to lose it in the depths of her purse. “You’ve got to stop assuming the worst from me, Walker.”

 

Jon grinned. “Never fucking change.”

 

“I don’t plan on it.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, and please leave a comment or kudos if you enjoyed it!


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